This weekend is another busy one, so we're splitting into this (up to Saturday) and the later (Sunday and Monday) update to fit all the good things in. As well as a second WFTDA Playoffs showcasting Sweden, and giving the UK it's second chance at a Champs place, there's equally exciting action in the USA for Brussels Derby Pixies in California; the finals of Victoria's Statewide Stampede tournament in Australia; the start of Finland's Suomi Cup for 2019/2020... and much more!

The rules are, as usual: highlights limited to 1 event per country, with an "extra" event allowed for a different kind of fixture
(so, 1 tournament and 1 bootcamp), or if they involve Scottish leagues (since we are the Scottish Roller Derby Blog).
Other notability might also allow the extra event - great posters, notable teams, etc. (League birthdays may count as "special" enough, at our discretion ;) )

We've bent the rules a bit this time, because it's important to highlight derby in regions which need more attention, and because it's quiet enough that we have the space.

In a bid to make this list as useful as possible, we've avoided links to Facebook except where noted.
(Links to Teams are to non-Facebook resources - Instagram, or actual team pages - we'd strongly recommend that Teams
get themselves an actual webpage [we can help host one if you need help]).

Locations are roughly organised East-West (with things before the weekend out sequence at the start).

Sat: Niagara Park, NSW, Australia

Central Coast Roller Derby United are also hosting a tournament season final, as New South Wales' 5x5 Roller Derby Championship comes to an end for 2018/19 with championship games for its three divisions.

Sat: Wangaratta, VIC, Australia

North East Roller Derby host the Grand Finals of this year's StateWide Stampede, Victoria's state tournament. By this point in the season, all of the teams have been sorted into 2 position bands, and the quintuple header event sees the pairs play off for 7th, 5th, 3rd, and of course 1st place position; as well as an opening Low-contact scrimmage as part of SWS's commitment to building and developing derby.

Fri: Tokyo, Japan

Kamikaze Badass Roller Derby face Tokyo Roller Derby's Neon Roller Monsters as the 2019/2020 edition of the mysterious 4x4 Roller Derby Tournament kicks off.
As we mentioned last season, it's been extremely difficult to get information in any detail about this tournament series, other than that it seems to be a Sur5al or Roller
Derby Sevens like short-format endurance ruleset, and involves the leagues around the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area (regardless of the ruleset they endorse, individually).
We only know of this fixture due to a short-lived "story" post on Kamikaze Badass' instagram account, which we've taken a copy of and hosted here for easier reference.

Sat-Sun: Al Quoz, Dubai, UAE

UAE Roller Derby host a Jammer Clinic as their season starts; an intensive intermediate/advanced session on jammer skills. This is open to beginners for observation, and some participation (including coaching oversight). The Facebook event lists it as being all weekend, so we've listed it as such here.

Event starts: 1330 Saturday

Venue: Aktiv Nation, Al Quoz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Thurs: Pretoria, South Africa

P-Town Roller Derby are working with Sumo, a local band, to provide more skate experiences, starting with this open skate at Thrashers Skate Park. We're interested to see how this association develops in future.

Sat: Turku, Finland

Dirty River Roller Derby host the first fixtures for the 2019/20 season of the Finnish national Championship, the Suomi-sarja. This is a Division 1 and "SM" (Elite division) triple header featuring, for the first time, two entries from one team, as the hosts enter their A and B teams. Also returning from last year, is the cup's only non-Finnish competitor, Russia's White Night Furies from St Petersburg.

Sat: Kaiserslautern, Germany

Kaiserslautern Roller Derby (who rebranded earlier this year from "Rollergirls of the Apocalypse"), host an exciting double header event: an international game against Reims, followed by a "mixed" exhibition game.

Kaiserslautern Roller Derby versus Beastie Derby Girls (Reims)

Black versus White Expo Game.

Event starts: 1630 Saturday (doors open)

Venue: Unisport, Paul-Ehrlichstraße 27-28, Kaiserslautern, Germany

Sat: Geneva, Switzerland

Genéve Roller Derby United host the fourth edition of their popular combination of cheese and Roller Derby: Track'lette IV! This is an 8 team Sur5al tournament, run entirely in French, with the evening set aside for post-tournament raclette.

Event starts: 1200 Saturday

Venue: Chemin du Fort-de-l’écluse 1, Geneva, Switzerland

Sat: Liège, Belgium

Manège Fonck hosts some Roller Derby as part of the second edition of D'une Certaine Gaieté's Bagarre Générale ["free-for-all"] series. Roller Derby Liège contribute a 'mixed' (we think this means OTA in this context) game against Charleroi's Blackland M.

Roller Derby Liège versus Blackland Randy Devils (Charleroi O? M?)

Half-time performance from Scrimmage People [Lille's Cheerleaders]

Live performance from Romano Nervoso

DJ Battle.

Event starts: 2000 Saturday (doors open)

Venue: Manège Fonck, Rue Ransonnet 2, Liège, Belgium

Fri: Dundee, Scotland

Dundee Roller Derby host an Open To All genders "Graduation Scrim". This is a chance for all newly-mins-passed skaters to celebrate with a
proper scrimmage, alongside Dundee's own gradutes of min skills. This is also open to skaters who are almost passed mins skills (as long as they're only missing backwards laps, and can pass at least 25/5 (even if they can't hit 27)).

Sat: Dalkeith, Scotland

Auld Reekie Roller Derby are warming up for the European Continental Cup with the first bout in a double header; the second showcasing not just ARRD C, the ASTROs, but also London Roller Derby's new D team who are currently playing under the extremely accurate name of "London D Team".

Also of interest, due to their attendees:

Fri-Sun: Kent, WA, USA

Rat City Roller Derby host the second of WFTDA's two Playoffs for Championships qualification this year. This is of interest to us due to the attendance of Crime City Rollers and Stockholm Roller Derby (representing Sweden), and London Roller Derby (representing the UK). With 2x4 Roller Derby defeating Rainy City last weekend, this is the only chance for the UK to get representation at Champs this year.

First games for teams we track:

Stockholm Roller Derby versus Arizona Roller Derby

London Roller Derby versus Queen City Roller Girls

Crime City Rollers versus (winner of Minnesota versus Rat City)

Event starts: 0900 Friday (doors open)

Venue: accesso ShoWare Center, 625 W James St, Kent, WA, USA

Sat-Sun: Truckee, CA, USA

Sierra Regional Roller Derby aren't intimidated by the other international event on US soil, as they host the 8th edition of their Deep Blue Derby Tournament, international by virtue of hosting Brussels Derby Pixies as one of the competitors. Brussels have been fundraising for much of the year for this tournament, so we hope they do well!